Page 67 of A Token of Blood and Betrayal

He cleared his throat.“This way.”

The garage was empty, completely bare except for my car and the keypad that matched the one outside.Deagan walked to the latter, entered a number, then grabbed the doorknob.

It didn’t budge.

Frowning, he entered another number.Again, the door stayed locked.“I would swear…” He faded off.Was he staring at my shoulder?The wall beside me?

I sighed.“Can you break in?”

He didn’t respond.

“Deagan?”

His focus shifted an inch to look at me.

No.Not at me.My neck.

“Deagan,” I said more forcefully this time.

His gaze shot to my face, fixated there for too many seconds until, finally, he shook his head like he was trying to remove an image from his mind.“My apologies.It’s worse when I’m standing.”

“What’s worse?”

He gave me a sheepish smile.“I need to feed.”

I forced my feet to remain in place and kept my breathing slow and easy.No need to trigger him.“I’m not volunteering for that.”

“Of course not,” he said quickly.“I will make a call.”He turned back to the keypad muttering, “As soon as we get inside.”

I should stayoutsideuntil he got his fix.I didnotneed to be bitten by a vampire tonight.

The garage door—the large metal door that had closed behind my car—clanged.Deagan and I both whirled toward it, saw it lift a couple of inches.

“Did you do that?”I asked.

“No.”Deagan’s lips pulled back to reveal sharp fangs.

The door ground another two inches up.The band of sunlight below it thickened and began to cut into the dark garage.

“Behind me,” Deagan ordered at the same time I snapped, “Figure out the code!”

The door moved up again, and my heart rate spiked.Someone was on the other side, manually lifting it to reveal leather boots and the bottom of black pants.

“Kennedy,” Deagan snapped.

“The code!”I slung the words at him as I darted to the back of my car.Deagan was Aged, but he hadn’t fully recovered from his time in captivity.He wouldn’t last ten seconds in the sunlight.

The garage door rose again.

Wrenching open the trunk, I grabbed an armful of blankets, intending to chuck them at Deagan, but the intruder was already ducking inside.I flung them at the woman instead, reached toward the chaos bracelet on my wrist, and—

“Thordis?”

Dark eyebrows arched over green eyes that flicked from me to the blankets, then back to me again.“Blankets?Really?Were you planning to tuck me in until I surrender?”

“What?”My adrenaline-addled brain tried to make sense of her words.

“Were you planning to tuck—”